Overview

• DiCaprio recalled being 12 or 13 when an agent said his birth name was “too ethnic” and proposed the stage name Lenny Williams.
• He said the suggested surname came from his middle name, Wilhelm, anglicized to Williams.
• According to DiCaprio, his father, George, tore up a promo photo bearing the new name and declared, “Over my dead body.”
• The actor described early hardships that included assembly-line auditions and breakdancing on the street for money.
• He is currently promoting Paul Thomas Anderson’s late‑September release One Battle After Another, co‑starring Benicio del Toro.